Skyline High School’s completed rebuild includes a 1,200-seat performing arts auditorium, a competition pool and a fieldhouse. The project’s architects, NWL Architects and Fanning Howey, describe a campus designed around flexible learning spaces. Fanning Howey lists the auditorium, an eight-lane, 25-yard pool with seating for 500, and a fieldhouse with four basketball courts and an upper-level running track among the facilities.
Designing around the existing campus
Construction took place in stages while students continued attending classes at the Millcreek school. The project began in November 2019, according to the Millcreek Journal. KSL reported that the rebuild was funded through Granite School District’s $238 million bond approved by voters in 2017; that bond covered work at Skyline and Cyprus high schools as well as other district projects. KSL also reported that Skyline’s construction began before Cyprus’s and finished after it, as work was phased around the operating school. The $238 million figure is the district bond amount, not the cost of Skyline’s rebuild.
A site constraint also shaped the work: KSL reported that a Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy pipeline crosses the property, with an easement that bars permanent structures above it. The district therefore had to reserve that area for uses such as parking or field space. This account of the pipeline and construction phasing relies on KSL’s reporting, including its reporting of district statements.
Flood and fire during construction
The Millcreek Journal reported that flooding on Sept. 14, 2022, damaged classrooms and the auditorium. On Sept. 20, the school unveiled new athletic facilities, and the old gymnasium was later destroyed by fire, the Journal reported. These incidents occurred while the larger rebuild was still underway.
Other campus features
Fanning Howey describes the academic layout as flexible learning communities organized around shared spaces, including a central public square with a media center and study café. The school also installed Indigo-Clean lighting in athletic areas, locker rooms and restrooms. FacilitiesNet reports that the system uses 405-nanometer visible light and was selected for those facilities as a disinfection measure.
